Backup system for servers at courthouse approved

Tuesday

Dec 18, 2012 at 11:45 AM

A backup system at the Phelps County Courthouse that would provide redundancy for two servers between the county sheriff’s office and Rolla Police Department was approved by the Phelps County Emergency Services Board (PCESB) at its Dec. 13 meeting.

Paul Hackbarth | Staff Writer

A backup system at the Phelps County Courthouse that would provide redundancy for two servers between the county sheriff’s office and Rolla Police Department was approved by the Phelps County Emergency Services Board (PCESB) at its Dec. 13 meeting.

J. Kent Robinson, counsel to the board, presented two quotes from CDW for two different models for the backup system.

Board members who were present approved the quote in the amount of $2,811.83 for 16 terabytes of data over the other bid, which was for $3,659.42 and holds 40 terabytes. Board members Pam Grow, Larry Seest and Steve Zap were absent. Robinson said the models differ only in the number of hard drives they hold and the amount of storage.

Also at the meeting, PCESB Chairman Paul Rueff updated the board on a proposal to address what has been described as an “extremely slow” Internet connection for St. James police when they input information into a shared records management system.

“Last meeting, we decided to present them with a plan that we would help them finance if they wanted to go wireless and gave them pricing,” Rueff said.

The quote from Wave Internet Technologies, LLC, of Rolla, for $2,480, would include four point-to-point radios — one at the RPD that would communicate with another on the St. James water tower near Interstate 44 and another radio on the water tower that would communicate with a radio at the St. James police station. Robinson explained that these radios need a line of sight between them.

After Rueff talked with St. James Police Chief Jim Anderson, he was told that St. James officials are looking at technology to make only one jump from the RPD to the St. James police station.

“Our offer is on the table. They have not closed the door on it,” Rueff said.

“If they find something that they can get cheaper, more power to them, but it ought to be up to our specs,” Robinson said, noting that whatever they choose, they should stay with law enforcement license frequency.

In other business

• PCESB Treasurer Buz Harvey said sales tax for emergency services is up 3.5 percent over a three-year average. “We have sufficient resources to handle the capital purchases in the capital budget that we outlined … Remember that we’re going to have $285,000 to $290,000 in capital expenditures in 2013, which is more than what we had this year,” Harvey said. The majority of those expenditures is for an E-911 phone system, according to the board’s capital budget. Harvey also projects around $600,000 in capital expenditures for 2014, which will cover a new radio system upgrade.

• Rueff also gave an update on the Archonix system, the new records management and computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system. He said software on the two servers and communication between them will be tested. Rueff said he has been pressing representatives with Archonix to go live with the new system at the beginning of next year.

• The board also was told that radios for first responders in the Duke and Edgar Springs area should be programmed soon to test out a pilot program with Wireless USA. Once the program goes online, “we’ll have some time to look at it and see how it works and hopefully if it works, we’ll have a solution to St. James ambulance issues with dead spots as well. And we’ll probably address, after that, St. James fire,” Rueff said, noting that there are some trouble spots for radios on Highway 68 south of St. James.

• Communications Chief Paula Volkmer said the RPD could switch to using digital radios this week, noting that “it’s all functional,” but that some programming issues need to be worked out.